Johnny Sexton has allayed injury fears and said he is 'fine' to start against New Zealand.
Sexton was ruled out early in the first test after concussion protocol but has said he is good to go for Saturday morning.
Andy Farrell made just one change to his starting line up with Mack Hansen being named in the starting line up and Sexton will captain the side.
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And speaking to media, Sexton said: “You go off for an HIA (head injury assessment) and you don’t come back on, everyone presumes that’s a concussion, but it’s not.
“It’s just, if there is a suspected (concussion) or if there is any doubt about the player.
“And obviously the independent doctor felt for whatever reason, my reaction to the knock or whether it was one or two little things in the test, but anyway, that’s history now.
“I went off for tests expecting to come back on and wasn’t allowed, which is fair enough, that’s what it’s there for.
“It’s there to protect players if there is a suspected concussion, that they are kept off, and that’s what happened with the independent doctor.
“As frustrating as it was for me at the time, it’s just life. Yeah, move on, did all the tests and obviously passed all of them with flying colours. Looking forward to this week.”
Sexton, who turns 37 on Monday, has battled with head knocks and the perception around them throughout his career.
World Rugby protocols state that an in-game head injury assessment – known as the HIA One test – advises if a player should sit out the rest of the match as a precaution but does not confirm a concussion.
If, as in the case of Sexton, a player goes on to pass second and third assessments in the 36 hours after the fixture, they are deemed not to have a confirmed concussion and therefore available for the next game.
Progressive Rugby said the governing body’s head injury assessment (HIA) process is “being exposed” as it made reference to Ireland prop Jeremy Loughman and that the “only option must be to err on the side of caution”.
Despite staggering following a collision during his country’s warm-up match against the Maori All Blacks last week, Munster player Loughman was initially permitted to return to play before being withdrawn at half-time.
“You saw the one during the Maori game, obviously a totally different thing, and that has been criticised as well,” continued Sexton.
“So, it’s very hard to win in this scenario. But everyone just tries to do their best by the players.
“We have got a great medical staff and set-up here. I think they expected to see me back on but look, we passed all the tests and we are ready to go this week now thankfully.”
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